There is nothing more stressful than going to get pre-approved for a loan on a house, car or other large expense to find out your credit score has dropped to a less than advantageous number. When your credit score is too low to qualify for good interest rates and low monthly payments, it can make buying difficult and expensive. Anyone can increase their credit score over time with a little know how. Finding the best strategies for your individual situation may be more difficult to discern, especially if your situation isn’t typical.

Credit scores that involve fraudulent charges and identify theft will take some heavy lifting to perform the needed tasks in order to clear the inaccurate accounts and repair credit. This is where a reputable credit counseling services firm is helpful. Many companies that specialize in credit restoration have a proven process to help increase credit scores and clear bad reports away permanently.

Taking steps to repair credit reports can be an involved process. One of the first steps to take is to notify one of the three credit bureaus, TransUnion, Experian, or Equifax. When you notify one, they will pass on the information to the other two. This will create an extra step in which any potential creditors will be required to verify your identity before opening new accounts. Starting the dispute process through the credit bureaus will also help. After the dispute process is started, the credit agencies listed above will investigate the case within 30 days and report fraud to the financial companies involved.

Another thing you’ll want to do regularly is check your credit report. Everyone receives one free annual report from each of the credit bureaus. After that, each agency charges a fee for each report. Taking the time to check credit reports and seeing if credit scores are on track can help mitigate incorrect information on your credit report. Mistakes can happen and it doesn’t have to be a cause of intentional fraud. Instead, it can be mistyping an address or a social security number. Regardless, it’s important to be vigilant about clearing up any mistakes.

If the process to repair credit gets stalled out, contact a credit counseling services company and see what they can do to help. If fraud is involved, there are times when finding where to begin a dispute can be like finding a needle in a haystack. However, there are companies skilled in the process, so you don’t have to reinvent the wheel. They can help remove the fraudulent accounts, but they can also help assist in getting past due accounts current and remove negative reports from the accounts.

EFG Credit Solutions provides credit restoration and can help to work through the steps and the processes for restoring credit scores with the goal of increasing their clients’ credit scores. We have connections with all three credit bureaus. Our connections offer us a means for contacting and disputing accounts. In addition, we offer credit score monitoring for a low fee. This includes scores every 30 days from each of the agencies for a fraction of the cost of the agency fees. Here is more information about the full range of our services.